Comet
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day four hundred and twenty-five:  reindeer 5/8  She's always loved Christmas, and that love has made his life better, too.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 20th cycle. Now cycle 21! (I realized I didn't fix this line throughout the whole of cycle 20! *smacks forehead*)_

_So as I did it **last year (days 52 through 63)**, I wanted to do something Christmas-y, but not overly so. Last year I used the song of "**The Twelve Days of Christmas**", and this year I used... **Santa's Reindeers**! So the stories in and of themselves aren't Christmas-themed, just the title that inspired them is ;) You'll see :)_

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**"Comet"  
Brittany (& Grandpa Joseph)  
Extra to the Sylvesters Series **

Come holiday time, there were two jolly old men Brittany cherished. There was Santa, naturally… and on Christmas morning, there was that great big spread of presents he'd left her, because of course she'd been a very good girl. But once she had hauled her lot up to her room, found a place for everything, and then cleaned up the wrappings – as her mother always insisted, there was still one more treat, courtesy of her second bearded jolly man… Grandpa Joseph.

For some reason, Santa always 'accidentally' dropped off a few presents of hers over at his place. He'd bring them to her on those mornings, much to her delight, but that wasn't the true reason for his visit. On those Christmas mornings, for as long as she could remember, he'd come, give her the wrongly delivered presents, and then they would go out, just the two of them, for Christmas pancakes. The diner would have them in those recognizable holiday shapes, just that one morning, and they never missed it. Brittany would always refuse to eat any of them shaped like some sort of person… Reindeers, Santa… Only suggesting it was enough to make panic spread on her face, so even Grandpa Joseph restrained from it.

They would sit in the booth and Joseph would listen, giving his undivided attention, as his granddaughter told him about the things Santa had brought her. She was so animated and joyful, he couldn't get distracted even if he wanted to… He wouldn't… That little girl would never get anything else; she deserved it.

Because no matter how excited she got over being there with him, he was, so much more than she could understand. She had given him so much, by no other act than existing, just the way she was, in his life. She was his little ball of light.

After he'd lost his wife, and then become estranged from his son, his life had grown so very dark. And when… December rolled around, and the streets of Lima became brightened by Christmas lights, and garlands, and songs… he felt nothing. He was all alone, could not feel the holiday cheer the way he used to… There was no point; his heart wasn't in it anymore.

But then there came Brittany, introduced in his life when her mother found him instead of Joe. Her mother probably wouldn't have really thought to include him, but he asked for it… Even unborn, the idea of her… It had made his heart beat in a way it hadn't in so very long. And with their first holidays, he started seeing it again… the magic of those lights, and garlands, and songs, and oh so much more… Everything was becoming bright again, and he told himself he'd always make that time special for her, especially since her mother's 'spirit' wasn't completely in tune with the holiday… He at least wanted to preserve that in Brittany. So their traditions had begun, from early on.

On more than one occasion he had presented himself as his granddaughter's personal Santa. As she'd grown though, he'd stopped. It wasn't that he didn't want to, but he knew… That girl still believed, still saw all the magic of it… And as sweet and generally unaware as she was, one day she might realize it was him in that suit, and not only would she lose that belief she had, she… she'd lose belief in him, feel betrayed by her very own Grandpa Joseph.

So he'd retired his red suit, but all their other traditions remained perfectly intact… especially the pancake breakfast. He knew that was her favorite part, too.

They'd sit there in the booth by the window, looking at the snow outside the window, the people going by. The view was always different but similar, always the same booth, the same sides of it. He felt, sitting there, that he could remember all of time with her. He could see her grow before his eyes, from the little girl in a booster seat, then grown enough to be without it, then growing more and more until he could hardly believe she would have ever been small enough to need the boost… But then between the genes she had, of her very tall parents, what could they expect? He'd watched her grow and grow, but she was always herself, always his little ball of light.

And Brittany, she knew she always had someone to share this love of the holidays with. She got to decorate two trees thanks to him, both at her house and his… It was hectic, and the rooms would look like a hurricane had come by, for a good while, but then by the end of it… Brittany had her confusions, but she could decorate one amazing tree…

That was always going to be a constant, no matter what happened, no matter if her belief was challenged; he would always be there to maintain the light in her heart, because she had brought it back to his. The world needed someone like her, he really believed that. It wasn't necessarily the part about believing in Santa, but it was everything else. This was how this time was supposed to be: joyful and light and loving… So many people he knew – himself included, before she came along – had lost it now…

THE END

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**A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
****In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
****always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!**


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